Zabaneh Still Hopeful for Maya Land Rights Agreement

Tonight, government says Maya land rights talks are progressing, but Maya leaders say they’ve stalled. Days after Cristina Coc signaled a return to the Caribbean Court of Justice, Indigenous Affairs Minister Dr. Louis Zabaneh rejects claims of a deadlock. He says both sides remain split on a key issue, how to define and map customary Maya lands, but insists disagreement is part of the process, not a breakdown. Zabaneh maintains government is committed to finding common ground and delivering long-awaited legislation to resolve one of Belize’s most enduring disputes.

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Indigenous Affairs

“One of the things that we really looked at very carefully is the meaning of what is Maya communal land rights. What does that really mean? We looked of course at the draft bill that the government has put forward and the formula on how to determine the demarcation of the areas around a village. In the first instance, you have a formula in which every member of the village would be allocated five acres not defined in a particular way like a circle or whatever. The village would determine that. From their end they believe that that’s a non-starter. They felt that their methodology of determining what their boundaries are is one in which that they have no space for negotiations. Because from their perspective, it is based on customary land tenure, on the use of the forest for different things, for medicine, water sources, et cetera. So we said listen one formula will yield a land area, the other formula will also yield a land area. Can’t we come together and have a hybrid? We’re in a negotiation so we all can’t get everything that we’re asking for in totality and maybe that’s what she described as a stalemate. For us, we don’t see that as a stalemate.”

 

Citing what they describe as a wide gap on core issues, the Maya Leaders Alliance announced they have applied to the Caribbean Court of Justice to seek clarification on the orders of their judgment, specifically on the procedure to identify Maya customary land.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: